Battle of Bryn Glas

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Bryn Glas


caption=
partof=Glyndŵr Rising
date=June 22 1402 St Alban's Day
place=Pilleth, Powys (2 miles north of Presteigne)
result=Welsh victory
combatant1=Welsh
combatant2=English
commander1=Owain Glyndŵr
commander2=Sir Edmund Mortimer
strength1=1500
strength2=2000
casualties1=around 200
casualties2=around 600|

The Battle of Bryn Glas, gbmapping|SO253682, (sometimes referred to in English accounts as the Battle of Pilleth - although Bryn Glas translates as the grey or blue hill) was fought on June 22 1402, near the towns of Knighton and Presteigne in Powys. It was a great victory for the Welsh rebels under Owain Glyndŵr, and it resulted in the prolongation of the Welsh rebellion and the destabilisation of English politics for several years afterwards.

Background

Owain Glyndŵr's revolt had begun in 1400 as a private war with an English neighbour, and had rapidly grown into a national insurrection. In the classic pattern of insurgencies, his forces had progressed from hit-and-run attacks to seeking confrontation with major enemy forces.

King Henry IV had appointed Sir Edmund Mortimer as his principal lieutenant in the Welsh Marches. Mortimer was uncle of the Earl of March, and either of them had a better hereditary claim to be King of England than Henry, but Edmund had so far loyally supported the new king. In any case, as a substantial holder of lands in Wales and on the borders, Mortimer had already suffered from the depredations of Glyndŵr's rebels and had much to lose should the revolt continue.

Battle

Mortimer's army, which numbered about 2,000, was seeking to bring Glyndŵr's smaller army to battle. Although the location was only just inside Wales, Glyndŵr undoubtedly had many local informants and sympathisers, and could plan a decisive battle. Probably, he had also been able to summon reinforcements from other parts of Wales, which moved rapidly over hill tracks, and was therefore far stronger than Mortimer realised.

Glyndŵr had a well-thought out strategy planned to defeat the English army. He had served in the English army before, and had a good grasp of battlefield command. Though always a risky tactic, he divided his army. 750 men, most or all longbowmen, were placed around 2/3 of the way up the hill. The remaining 750 men-at-arms and irregular infantry were placed in a valley, to the left of the hill, camouflaged by thick foliage. Mortimer's army formed up and immediately began loosing volleys of arrows into the Welsh.

However, due to the gradient of the hill, most of the arrows from Mortimer's army was falling short. The arrows from the Welsh, assisted by the gradient and gravity inflicted heavy casualties amongst the English longbow archers. The English men-at-arms waited impatiently for the order to attack. Eventually, Mortimer realised he had to attack before he lost his numerical superiority. He ordered his army to charge. However, abruptly, the Welsh longbowmen in his army defected, and fired point blank volleys into the English army.

To this day, nobody knows exactly why the Welsh defected, the two most popular theories are that they were "double-agents" and the whole thing was pre-planned, or they recognised Glyndŵr's obvious superiority in tactics and defected for self preservation. Either way, the point blank volleys inflicted devastating losses on the English. Glyndŵr's archers abandoned their bows and charged into the advancing English, who had been significantly reduced by Glyndŵr's men.

By this time, the troops who had been concealed in the valley were ordered to attack. These fresh troops struck the killer blow to Mortimer's army. Mortimer's exhausted troops collapsed, and broke. The Welsh rebels had won their first notable victory in open warfare against the English forces. For Glyndŵr's rebels, it was a much-needed morale boost.

It is said that immediately after the battle, many English corpses were mutilated by Welsh women camp followers, in revenge for a punitive expedition by Henry IV the previous year which had been marked by many acts of brutality and rape. Whether these mutilations took place remains open to debate, some suggest it was a story perpetrated by the English parliament to portray the Welsh as savages. Over 800 men were killed in the battle, around 600 of them, English.

Mortimer was captured, and subsequently renounced his allegiance to King Henry IV, put forward his nephew's claim to the throne of England and married Glyndŵr's daughter Caitrin.

The battle is mentioned by William Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part 1 :cquote|
the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight,
Against the wild and irregular Glendower,
Was by the rude hand of that Welshman taken,
A thousand of his people butchered

The contemporary site

A church at Pilleth that predates the battle and a stand of Wellingtonia planted to commemorate it, mark the actual site of the battle. There is limited parking at the recently renovated church.

In the grounds of St Mary's Church is a spring-fed well; testament to ancient celtic connections [cite web | author= | title=Friends of Pilleth Church|url=http://www.friendsofpilleth.co.uk/church.htm| accessdaymonth=20 Nov | accessyear=2007 ] ..

Reconstructions

A computer-animated reconstruction of the battle was featured in the BBC series, "Battlefield Britain", narrated by Peter Snow [cite web | author= | title= BBC Battlefield Britain |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/battlefield_britain/index.shtml | accessdaymonth=20 Nov | accessyear=2007 ] ..

External links

* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/426328 Photograph at Geograph]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/406061 Photograph at Geograph]

ources

*"Famous Welsh Battles", Philip Warner, Fontana, 1977, ISBN 0-00-634151-9
*"The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr", R. R. Davies, Oxford Paperbacks, 1995, ISBN 0-19-285336-8

References